


Dragonfly Out in the Sun

by Theoroark



Series: Feeling Good [8]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Animal Death, Discussions of death, F/F, Gen, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Road Trips, Two of the biggest emotional dunces in canon attempting to discuss feelings, Widow making Hanzo cry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2017-11-30
Packaged: 2019-02-08 21:57:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12873849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theoroark/pseuds/Theoroark
Summary: "Okay. Yeah. Your contact. You kind of know him already?""Oh my God," Widow said, as Hanzo Shimada's profile expanded from Sombra's palm. "Seriously?"-Widowmaker escapes Talon, Hanzo's being paid to escort her to freedom. It's a long trip.





	Dragonfly Out in the Sun

Sombra and Widow winced simultaneously as the garage doors creaked as they slid open. Sombra had disabled all the automatic systems, and so the moon and Sombra's handful of security feeds were the only sources of light as the walked through the rows of cars. "I want to get you something tougher," Sombra said as she pulled up the manifest. "It'd be safest to go off road. I'll find something with a good amount of lift."

 

"Maybe we should have just gone with a plane," Widow said absently. 

 

"Wait. Can you fly?"

 

"Yes."

 

"Why didn't you tell me?"

 

"It was in my file."

 

"Excuse me for respecting your privacy." Widow stopped in her tracks to ensure that even in the darkness, Sombra knew she wore an unimpressed expression. Sombra sighed. "Okay, look. Vehicle proficiency isn't exactly one of the sexier things about you."

 

"I'll keep that in mind." She started walking again, easily catching up with Sombra. "I'll go in through the ruins. If I make good time, I should get there by early morning, when it's less populated. And it's what, a half hour walk to Ilios proper?"

 

"Yeah. And don't forget, you need to-"

 

"Send it off a cliff or something, I know." Sombra stopped in front of a Jeep-like car, and Widow leaned against it as she began the hack. "I just wish your contact wasn't making me meet him in a motel. Trust me, those things are like the kiddy pool for assassins." 

 

"I'll let him know," Sombra said drily. Through the back windshield, Widow could see the dashboard display flicker into a purple sugar skull, and Sombra turned to face her. "Okay yeah. Your contact." 

 

"My contact."

 

"You actually kind of know him already?"

 

"Please don't tell me it's someone I was supposed to kill. That would be so awkward."

 

"No, no!" Widow folded her arms. "Look, I just want you to remember that Akande wanted to recruit him for a reason, and he does have some unique skills-"

 

"Oh my God," Widow said, as Hanzo Shimada's profile expanded from Sombra's palm. "Seriously?"

 

"Okay, before you say anything about the motel thing, it's because a lot of the gangs there know about his bounty, so there aren't a lot of safe spaces for him in the city. That's kind of how I got him in the first place, I'm getting Los Muertos and affiliates off his back. I'm sure he's still a very capable sniper–"

 

"He uses a bow and arrow, Sombra."

 

"And a fucking giant ass dragon that even I can't figure out the mechanics of!" Sombra sighed again, and Widow could see in the dim purple light that she was pinching the bridge of her nose. "Look, I know it's not ideal. But I know for sure he doesn't have current contact with Talon, and I can head him off and hunt him down if he tries to make it. And the guy has been on the move and surviving assassination attempts for a while now. I wish I could do better and I'm sorry and I'm going to do everything I can from here, but..."

 

She trailed off and took a deep, gulping breath. Widow looked down. Remembered the whir of the espresso machine as Sombra pulled her third all nighter planning her escape. Thought about the uproar her desertion would cause on base, and her girlfriend gambling for her with ever higher stakes. 

 

"Don't," she said. "I... I can handle myself. I don't want you to put yourself at risk of being discovered."

 

"You know, Widow, I don't know if I'm more afraid of that, or the prospect of sitting on my ass for weeks, not knowing what the hell is going on."

 

"Well. I know that I want you alive. So?"

 

"Okay." She gave a watery chuckle. "I'll meet up with you as soon as I can."

 

"I'll be okay," she told her. Sombra said nothing and Widow reached out for her hand. "When you see me again..."

 

"Yeah," Sombra whispered. She squeezed her hand. "I can't wait to see you again."

 

-

 

Widow had never regretted stopping her reconditioning more than when she was walking across the parking lot of the Grand Ilios motel. Her sniper's instincts and her sharp eyes remained, but now she could put some inklings of emotion to the observations. And everything she saw– the darkened, worn down cars spotting the lot, the low chain link fence around the pool that clung to a myriad of obstructions and shadows, the bumps and chimneys on the roof– all elicited a fear she had not felt since she had been Amélie. 

 

Her hand was shaking as she tapped the code into the keypad of the appointed room. This would not do. She knew little about Hanzo and she was to some degree at his mercy. For her own preservation, she would have to make an impression that perfectly balanced charming and intimidating. She took a deep breath, steadied herself, and opened the door. 

 

Hanzo was lying on the bed. He was wearing a knock off Adidas track suit and was drinking. He did not look up when Widow walked in. "Your 'friend' has double crossed you," he announced, and then took another swig from his bottle. 

 

Widow stared dumbly. "Excuse me?"

 

"Look." Still not meeting her eyes, Hanzo fumbled at the night stand, grabbed at his holovid, and threw it to her. Widow swiped through the opened file, but found nothing but the itinerary Sombra had prepared. 

 

"I don't understand." That made Hanzo look over at her, an exasperated expression on his face. Widow struggled to keep her own annoyance from showing. 

 

"I thought Talon was a major player in geopolitics," he said. "Look at it." He shoved off the bed, flipped back to the map of the route, and jabbed a finger at the end point. "She is sending us to Central Anatolia. It's a war zone right now. Even if we get in undetected and unharmed, it is the perfect way to get you killed with no questions asked."

 

"We chose the location together," Widow said calmly. "And for a reason." Hanzo's eyes widened and his frown deepened. 

 

"Why on earth would you choose to go there? Could it not wait?"

 

"No," Widow said. "And in any case, the person I'm meeting with gravitates towards these kinds of conflicts." 

 

Hanzo snatched the holovid back from her and sat back on the bed stormily. "This does not change the fact that it's a suicide mission," he said. "Your associate did not send me this information until after I had agreed to the job. She assured me it was for your security. I now suspect it was because she knew I would not take the job otherwise."

 

He picked his bottle back up and Widow ground her teeth. "If you don't believe you're up to the job," she said, in the same steady voice, "I can look into other arrangments."

 

Hanzo scoffed. "You can't goad me into this job." She shrugged. 

 

"I'm not goading you. It's the truth. I'm willing to make this trip. If you aren't, tell me now, so I can start planning."

 

He glared at her from under a loose flop of hair. Widow gave him a bland smile. He snorted and lay back down in bed. 

 

"We leave at 8 am. Get some sleep while you can."

 

-

 

Even in the seedy part of town they were in, Ilios was bright and cheerful in the morning rush. Wedged into a small taxi with him, Widow could tell that Hanzo was just as annoyed by it as she was. It almost made her like him. 

 

"We get out here," Hanzo announced, barely waiting for the cab to stop before he jumped out. Widow slipped the driver a few more bills before following him out of the car and down an alley, away from traffic. He stopped when he got to a dead end and turned to her. "Now. I know the Shimada technique of wall climbing, and traveling via rooftop would be the best way to proceed undetected. This spot has a fire escape you may climb, but in the event we get separated–"

 

Widow shot her grappling hook over his head and onto the ledge of the apartment building behind him. She waited patiently as he clambered up after her. 

 

"I can see our ship from here," she said, pointing at the horizon. 

 

"Yes," he said, through gritted teeth. "That was the point."

 

The ship was an enormous cargo steamer that bobbed up and down in her view as she lept across the rooftops, Hanzo on her heels. But she was only able to examine it in earnest when they arrived at the docks, and she clambered up the warehouse near the loading bay. She scanned the scene in front of her, noting the number of personnel, their strength, their alertness, their affiliation–

 

She wheeled to face Hanzo. "Helix security is guarding this ship!" she hissed. 

 

"So? They are not impenetrable. What, is Talon afraid of one little security firm–"

 

"Not Talon, you idiot. Me." His unimpressed expression dropped. "Did you not read the itinerary at all?"

 

He rubbed his neck. "Well, the war zone bit threw me–" She rolled her eyes and grabbed his holovid off his waist and pulled it up. 

 

"Captain Fareeha Amari, of Helix Securities, has a strong vendetta against me," she said. "She's supposed to be stationed in Giza, but if she received so much of a breath about me, I have no doubt she would come running, and she is HIGHLY connected–"

 

"Amari..." Hanzo said distantly. His eyes widened. "Is that... is she related to Ana Amari?"

 

"Her daughter." Hanzo let out a long sigh. 

 

"I don't know why it had to be an Amari. I quite admire Ana. SHE was a great sniper."

 

"I out-sniped her, actually."

 

"I'm sure you did," Hanzo said in a deeply condescending tone. Widow clenched her fists. 

 

"In any case. Is there no other ship we can use?"

 

"No," Hanzo said. "Unless you want to wait another two weeks." Widow sighed, checked over the ledge, and jumped down, into one of the waiting cargo containers. She rolled to the side and heard a soft thwump as Hanzo landed next to her. She looked around them. They appeared to be in a container filled with Happy Meal prizes. Could be worse. 

 

"You know," he said, as she squirmed in pile of plastic-wrapped toys, trying to find a comfortable position, "if you did not know Helix would be here, why did the itinerary mentioned Amari?"

 

Widow lay down, staring at the sky and accepting the hours of plastic poking and prodding that lay before her. "My contact maintains connections with her," she said. Hanzo waited, and when she said no more, he huffed and settled in the corner opposite her. She smiled and closed her eyes. 

 

-

 

When Widow woke up that night, slowly and blearily, the first thing she saw was the dim glow of a holovid. For a moment, she thought she was back in bed with Sombra. Sombra was both an incurable cuddler and an insomniac, and so she would haul her holovid and any projects she was working on into bed with her and stay pressed up next to Widow, ensuring that both of them would take forever to fall asleep. Widow dimly wondered why Sombra was so far from her, why she had left bed, when she registered the gentle momentum of the Mediterranean and remembered where she was. She pushed herself up and blinked, and Hanzo came into focus. 

 

"I'm reading the itinerary," he said. "Making sure there aren't any more surprises."

 

"How competent of you," she said drily. He flared his nostrils and said nothing. "Have you found anything interesting?"

 

"You're going to see a doctor," he said. "Are you sick?"

 

"No." He lowered the holovid, and Widow could see him frowning. 

 

"I don't understand. Why do you need to see her so urgently, then?"

 

Akande had consulted with Widow during his recruitment push, and while she had not met Hanzo before, she knew some about him. She knew Shimada had left his clan to fall to ruin, and had been eking out an existence as a drifter ever since. She knew he had considerable skill, which made the fact that he had accomplished nothing of note all the more remarkable. She had advised against his recruitment and she had been somewhat relieved when he turned them down. 

 

She also knew he had killed his brother. 

 

"Talon inserted a conditioning chip in my frontal lobe that repressed my emotional capacity," she said. "Dr. Ziegler is perhaps the only one who can remove it and undo any amount of damage."

 

Hanzo blinked rapidly, his mouth slightly open. "I did not expect you to be honest," he said slowly. Widow shrugged. 

 

"How could you hurt me with it?"

 

"I suppose." They sat in silence for a while. Widow picked up one of the plastic-wrapped toys around her. It was a pachimari. Sombra liked those. 

 

"I know you killed your husband," Hanzo said suddenly. Widow tore the plastic off the pachimari and shrugged. 

 

"I did."

 

"Is that the reason you decided to see Dr. Ziegler?"

 

"No."

 

"She works with cyborgs as well, doesn't she?" Hanzo asked after a pause. 

 

"I have no idea." Hanzo shut down the holovid, and Widow wrapped her hand around the pachimari and shut her eyes. 

 

-

 

The ship had docked in Mersin, and they had been able to hop a train to Ankara. But there were no trains going into lawless, arid steppe where Dr. Ziegler operated. And so Hanzo had elected to take advantage of the lawlessness that stymied them, and Widow watch the flat skyline fly by through the window of their stolen car. 

 

It was nice, almost. Widow remembered driving through the Alps in a convertible with Gerard. He had put his arm around her and she had leaned back and lost herself to the feeling of his hand and the car. This trip was considerably dustier and bumpier and Hanzo, thankfully, kept both hands on the wheel, but as she leaned against the window Widow felt some of the same meditative calmness. 

 

She drifted off at some point, and Hanzo must have too, because she woke to him jerking the wheel, swearing under his breath, and announcing it was time to make camp. 

 

"I'm getting old, I suppose," he admitted. 

 

"That's a privilege, with this job." He snorted and opened the trunk. 

 

"You set up. I'm going to get us dinner."

 

Widow frowned and looked around. They were still surrounded by wilderness– a little hilly and scrubby now, but no sign of civilization to be found. "Where?" He laughed. 

 

"Now I see why she hired me."

 

When he came back a couple hours later, a little deer-like thing over his shoulders, Widow had laid out the bedrolls and put out her mines and was stoking the fire. He looked at the fire, surprised. "I know some things," she said. 

 

"You do." He set the deer down and positioned himself between Widow and the carcass as he took out a knife. Widow angled herself to watch him work out of contrarianism. "But I know Talon. I did not think they would teach such... non-technological survival skills."

 

"They didn't teach me."

 

"Then where did you learn?"

 

"My husband loved to camp."

 

Hanzo set the knife down and turned away from the deer to face her. Widow fixed her gaze on his bloody fingers. 

 

"I know what it's like to be reminded of it, all the time." For the first time the whole trip, there was no bluster or ego in Hanzo's voice. There was just a gentleness and an openness that made Widow finally snap.  

 

"Talking about this with me isn't going to help," she said. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at his pinched, offended expression. "I mean we did not have the same kind of experience. Listen. You remember everything about that night, don't you?"

 

"Yes," Hanzo said quietly. "I relive it every day."

 

"I can't even remember what he was wearing," Widow said. He stared at her. "I have killed many, many people, Shimada. And I was rigorously programmed to feel nothing but accomplishment after each death. When I try to remember his death, it's like trying to remember what I had for lunch a year ago. I did not think it was particularly important then. And so I remember very little about it."

 

"But you think it's important now," Hanzo said. 

 

"Yes. I do."

 

"Then you know about the regret?" Widow frowned. 

 

"I don't know if regret is the correct term. I was kidnapped and brainwashed. I made no kind of choice to murder Gerard. I grieve him, but I blame Talon for his death. Not myself."

 

"I didn't have a choice either," Hanzo said, staring at the fire. Widow let out a long breath through her teeth. 

 

"I'm sorry. Does the Shimada clan use brainwashing, as well?"

 

"No."

 

"Well then," Widow said. "It sounds as though you had a choice. You just don't like the one you made." 

 

"Excuse me?" Hanzo's face twisted in anger, and Widow once again staved off an eye roll. "The council would have expelled me! They would have sent every person in Hanamura after me!"

 

"You left on your own afterwards, didn't you? You have assassins after you now. What changed so radically in the- how long did you wait before leaving? A year?"

 

"You did work for Talon when your programming was wearing off, didn't you?" Hanzo asked icily, ignoring her question. 

 

Widow grit her teeth. "Yes." 

 

"So you took those lives, knowing you had a choice in the matter, knowing it was wrong, didn't you?"

 

"Yes. Christ."

 

"Then don't talk to me like you're so innocent," Hanzo spat. Widow threw up a hand. 

 

"I know I'm not! I'm just saying, maybe you shouldn't be making your brother's murder all about you!"

 

Hanzo turned back to the deer. "I didn't want to do it," he said quietly. 

 

"But you did it," she said. He did not reply and Widow drew her knees up to her chest and listened to the soft sounds of splitting skin and tissue. 

 

-

 

Widow cursed her faded conditioning again the next morning, as she acutely felt every ounce of awkwardness and tension in the car. She leaned against the window and tried to lose herself in the rhythm of the drive again, but the body next to hers kept her tethered. 

 

Midday, they drove past some children playing soccer. "We're close," Hanzo said. It was the first thing either of them had said all day. Widow nodded. 

 

"Right." She glanced over at him. His face was set and stony. "Are you...?"

 

"Your friend wanted me to stay with you until she could come."

 

"It's fine. You can drop me off."

 

"No, I'm going to stay with you."

 

"Really, it's fine–"

 

"I'm not doing this for your sake. I'm not giving your friend an excuse to back out of her end of the deal."

 

"Right." Widow turned to look out the window again. A cluster of canvas tents were growing larger on the horizon. She could make out the Red Cross flag waving in their midst. 

 

"She didn't have to do any of this," she said. 

 

"Who? Ziegler?"

 

"No. Sombra." From the corner of her eye, she could see Hanzo frowning. "When I met her, she only ever looked after herself. Now she risked so much to get me here. I don't understand."

 

"She works with gangs and terrorists. She does not strike me as the altruistic type." She was sure Hanzo meant it as a barb, but he was not telling her anything she did not already know. 

 

"That's what makes this so... odd." She turned to look at him. His gaze was fixed on the tents. "I never expected her to do this for me. And I don't think I would have done the same for her."

 

He sighed. "Why are you telling me this?" She shrugged. 

 

"You were right. Last night. Sombra is giving me back my life. And I can't do the same. But I stay with her."

 

"It's not quite the same," Hanzo said. Widow turned away. 

 

"No. I suppose it's not."

 

They drove in silence until they reached the tent with the Red Cross flag. Hanzo held the flap open for her, and she entered. 

 

-

 

Ziegler listened to her story carefully. Nodded with wide, sympathetic eyes. Shook her head at the chaos wrought in the fall of Overwatch. Put her hand on her shoulder and told her she could help, that of course she understood the sensitivity of the situation and the need for strict adherence to doctor-patient confidentiality, that she would see to her as soon as she finished with her scheduled patients. 

 

Hanzo watched the whole exchange carefully from the corner. Then, as soon as Ziegler went back to her rounds, leaving them alone in her office, he leapt up and over to the metal filing cabinet next to her desk. 

 

Widow stared at him. "What are you doing?"

 

"You're dating Sombra," Hanzo said. He picked the lock of the top drawer and began leafing through it. "I'll not be judged by the likes of you."

 

"Tell me what the hell you're doing, and then I'll be judging you."

 

"It's nothing," he muttered. He slammed the top drawer shut and knelt to open the lower. "I just need to know."

 

"Know what? I'm not going to cover for you if you get caught, Shimada. If she throws you out, it's on you. And I can't guarantee Sombra will come through–"

 

He had stopped. He pulled a manila folder out of the drawer and sat there, holding it. Widow looked around, and then walked over to him. He turned the file towards her mutely. 

 

"Shimada, Genji," she read. She frowned. "Who is he?"

 

"My brother," he said hoarsely. 

 

"I thought–"

 

"So did I." He laughed bitterly. "Until he showed up, mostly metal, and lectured me about forgiveness and then ran away again."

 

Widow reached over and shut the drawer. She offered Hanzo her hand and he took it, and she led him back over to the cheap folding chairs they had been sitting on. He held the folder in his lap. 

 

"He was... something different," he said. "She made him a machine. But he said he was better."

 

"Sombra's a cyborg," Widow said carefully. "She's happy with it."

 

"But she had a choice about it, Lacroix." He rubbed his face. "And I'm the one who–"

 

He closed his eyes and held his hand over his mouth. Widow sat there awkwardly for a moment, then placed her hand on his shoulder. He jumped in his seat. 

 

"Sorry!" she said quickly. He shook his head. 

 

"No, no, it's just you're– quite cold."

 

"Right." Widow gathered her hands in her lap and stared down at them. "I don't know your brother," she said. "But I know I wouldn't have met Sombra if I hadn't murdered Gerard. I'm not saying that to say it was worth it, or that these things happen for a reason." 

 

She took a deep breath. "I just mean that people move on and rebuild. And it gets less, if you let it." 

 

She hesitated, and then gently placed her hand back on his shoulder and squeezed. He dropped his hand from his face and nodded, and then opened the folder. 

 

-

 

Ziegler called a ship to take them to a secure facility. They traveled in the night and Widow looked out the window and watched the stars, and then the city lights that sparked up to mirror them. 

 

They landed on the roof of the hospital and Ziegler took her arm as she led her through the hallways. Widow tried to focus less on the smell of antiseptic and the glare of fluorescent on white, and more on the pressure of Ziegler's hand and the soft sound of Hanzo's footsteps behind them. 

 

"I'm going to have to put you out for a while," Ziegler said. "Is that okay?" They were standing outside the operating room. Widow was wearing a cheap plastic hospital gown. Hanzo was standing at the door. 

 

It really wasn't. She wanted so badly for Sombra to be here. Sombra could always sense trouble coming, could literally feel it, on her cybernetic nerve endings. Sombra could find the shape and the weakness in the most ironclad traps. Sombra was capable of the kind of broken calculus that led her to believe that her life was equal to Widow's. 

 

"Widow." She turned to Hanzo. He was holding his holovid. "Come look at this."

 

She walked over and took it from him. On the screen was a short message. 

 

_Couldn't wait to see you. No tail, we'll deal with what comes. Be there tomorrow._

 

And then a purple sugar skull. 

 

"She didn't have to do this," Widow whispered. 

 

"But she did it," Hanzo said. "Go. She'll be here soon."

**Author's Note:**

> I have one plot-y wrap up fic left planned, and then a couple character ficlets. But if you want to see anything in this 'verse, let me know!
> 
> I'm @tacticalgrandma on tumblr, if you want to talk there.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading this, and any comments/kudos would make me love you <3


End file.
